 Good afternoon and welcome to this, our fifth and final lecture series of the looking head lecture series for the University of Newcastle in 2020. My name is Lauren Collier. I am a proud Banjan woman and my grandmother's country is from Hincher Brook Island in Queensland. I myself study here in Wallatukah and am an alumni of the law school. I spent many years out practising after graduating and am proud to be back here in Wallatukah today with all of you. I have the privilege today to be able to join with such well respected and inspiring leaders to talk about issues that are really close to my heart. That is education, legal issues and improving the lives of our Aboriginal brothers and sisters out there in the community. Before we begin our discussions today, we are all lucky to have the wonderful and deadly dancers here from Adamstown Public School. So I would like to welcome them here today and they are also going to perform our acknowledgement of country. So I will hand you over to our wonderful guys over here. My name is Kane and my father is Aboriginal. I am still trying to find the background knowledge of my family. Geez, I finally feel like I belong. I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on the Awabika land. Thank you. Wasn't that an inspiring introduction to our event today? My name is Mark Hoffman. I am Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic and it is my role to welcome you here on behalf of the University. This is our fifth, final and arguably most important looking ahead lecture for the year. The focus is Black Lives Still Matter, a momentum for change. The University of Newcastle plays a leading role in our country in Indigenous advancement, based here at the Wallatukur Institute in this wonderful building where we are today. It is now my pleasure to introduce the University of Newcastle's Pro Vice Chancellor, Indigenous Strategy and Leadership, Mr Nathan Towney, who will lead the event today. Thank you very much Mark and thank you everyone who is here in the building today. Some very well respected people that I admire very much that have made the time to be here. So thank you all for being here and also to the people that have taken the time to zoom in and dial in today. It's fantastic to have you here. When I was asked to give the fifth and final looking ahead lecture series lecture, I thought about long and hard what I wanted to talk about. And at the time there are a lot of things happening around the world and in this country. And I thought it would be really inspiring to have a panel discussion about the Black Lives Matter movement and in particular talk a little bit about where that stems from. And it really does stem from historical inequality. And let's have a really open and honest conversation about that with people that have different lived experience and different expertise in that area. And so I'm really excited about having that discussion today. I've got a wonderful panel arranged and then I'm going to come back after the panel and have a more of a conversation about the role that the university can play in advancing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. So I want to have as much time as we can for the panel discussion because that's what I'm most excited about. And I'd like to introduce our panel members. First I'd like to introduce a gentleman that has two very important titles. The first one to me is Uncle. But he also holds the title of Professor. I'd like to introduce Professor Bob Morgan. A proud Gomori meme from Walgert, New South Wales. I've been lucky enough to go to Walgert with Uncle Bob and hear some of the stories of where he grew up and I'm very privileged to have heard that. Very well respected academic and educator has been in the game for a long time and has been instrumental in advancing lots of outcomes not only at this university but across the country. So Uncle Bob, thank you very much for taking the time. The second member is Sharon Clayton, the federal member for Newcastle. Sharon, thank you very much for being here. I know how passionate you are about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues. I know that stemmed from time working in WA. And yeah, we really appreciate the support that you've shown not only to me and the university but also fighting the fight in at Canberra. And we all know how hard that can be. Thank you for not giving up and thank you for always being there and always saying yes to events like this. It really does mean a lot. The third panel member is a proud Wuradjuri man from God's Country, Wellington, New South Wales. Jeffrey Amado, Jeff Amado. Jeff was actually in my kindergarten class and so we go back a long way and someone that I'm really proud of. Jeff will share part of his story today but it's no secret and that Jeff had a bit of a troubled background and spent a bit of time in juvenile justice and incarceration with drug and alcohol issues. Went to the Glenn Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre and has now been 11 years clean and sober. And for that I'm extremely proud of you, brother, because I know where you've come from, I know how hard it's been and I'm just so proud to have you here on the discussion today. Jeff now works as an advocate in Aboriginal communities really trying to ensure that maybe we build more drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres that have played a significant role in his life as opposed to building jails. Jeff has also been a proud advocate and the Dubbo community have just received $10 million for a Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre and that's a lot of the work that Jeff's done, so congratulations. Our fourth panel member is another proud Wuradjuri person from Dubbo, New South Wales. Taylor Gray, Taylor is a fifth year law student, just about finished, 5,000 words to go in the final thesis. I think that deserves a round of applause in itself. Taylor is an extremely passionate advocate for doing what's right and that's what has made her so keen to go down that law space and I know that she'll share some of that story today around why she's so passionate about that. Taylor was instrumental in the Black Lives Matter movement here in Newcastle. Went to Sydney and fought the good fight to ensure that those protests could continue. Very well respected and Taylor, really proud that you're here today. Know your dad very well and I'm just very, very proud that you're here. So thank you very much. I'm now going to hand back to Lauren Collier who's going to facilitate the panel discussion and then I'm going to come back at the end and round things up and talk a little bit more about the university and the role that we think we can play. Thank you. Thank you, Nathan and thank you again to all our panellists for coming to have this discussion today. You know, power is gained by sharing knowledge so we're really grateful to everyone for your time today. Jeff, if we can start with you because I think that your story is really important for everyone to hear and it really highlights some of the issues, you know, both good but also, sorry, you know, some of the problems with, you know, the legal and educational issues but also the resilience and the power of Aboriginal people to overcome those issues. So if you don't mind telling us a little bit about your journey and how you came to be here today. Yeah, for sure. But before I go any further, I think I want to do the most important thing that acknowledged country I'm on, you know, what people, you know, elders past the present and our next leaders, elders that are emerging. You know, so for those that don't know me, as the brother boy, Naif, you know, just introduced my name is Jeff Romano and I'm a proud of Rajri men from Mollick New South Wales and yeah, he's right, God's country, you know. And no, but just a little bit about me and what I'm passionate about and what I've done. I fell into the lifestyle of heavy drug addiction, alcoholism, incarceration and I suppose what I got to where I am today is I was pretty privileged and fortunate enough to get introduced to a place that helped me deal with my trauma, my alcoholism, my mental health, instead of always thinking the number one, the first choice should be, you know, jail, jail, jail. I was pretty enough fortunate introduced to the Glen Rehabilitation Centre and me being an Indigenous man and an Aboriginal Indigenous Rehabilitation Centre, it's where I came back and contacted my culture. You know, because when they send us to prison, what they're doing, they're sending us to prison with untreated alcoholism, untreated drug addiction, untreated mental health, untreated trauma and this is why we've fallen back into the gap and our people are being locked away so much is because we're not dealing with our... The real core issues is why we're re-offending. You know, we're re-offending about 85% of it's under the influence of drugs and alcohol, so prison didn't work for me. You know, what worked for me was a place to get to where I could start to deal with the stuff that was going on for me and me being an Indigenous man, that Indigenous place, that's where I held. That's where I held. I found the fire in my belly now to push for my people to say, listen, prison's not working for our people. You know, and in any way, I can speak highly of that because I lived it. I don't think you can get any more power than someone who's flicked experience. That's come out the other end to tell their story on what's working for our people and what's not working for our people. So that's a little bit about where I got to where I am today. You know, I was pretty fortunate enough, I found Australia now into prisons, rehabilitations and organisations, community schools, etc. What can benefit from my talk on how I held as an Indigenous man. And I'm still here for years later travelling in Australia. So I've received some really big awards for the work I'm doing in community, but I'm so passionate about what we need in this country, is more cultural rehabs and less jails for our people. You know, me personally, I think that the government's fallen short about a billion dollars a year to close the gap for drugs, alcohol and mental health. Thank you. And I mean, thank you for sharing that. And you know, because you've been, you know, you've seen how these things work on the other side, you've been in prison, you've worked with so many people that, you know, have needed your help. What did you think about the recent Black Lives Matter movement? I love the Black Lives Matter movement. You know, and I think it should have happened a long time ago. I was pretty privileged enough to have marched on the Central Coast, Dark and Young Country. And just having my kids, educating my kids and educating this country on this is what's happening in our country. We can't sure-coat this no longer. You know, we've got to start talking about the Black Lives Matter. And I can't wait to get, and I'm privileged enough to say that I will be marching in the next one. We've got to do it, you know, sooner than later to keep the movement happening. But, yeah, this country's, the truth's got to be told. You know, as an Indigenous people, our statistics weigh up any other culture in our own country. You know, for the suicide rate, for the drug and alcohol addiction, for the incarceration, for the, I suppose, what doesn't sit right with me is, as Indigenous people, we're the poorest culture in our own country. You know, and the Black Lives Matter, this should have happened a long time ago. But it's happening and Australia's aware of what us Indigenous people are going through, and it's so important to keep the movement happening. We can't stop now. We've got to keep moving. I might jump over to you, Taylor, as one of the organisers of the Black Lives Matter rallies here in Newcastle. Could you talk to us a bit about the process that you had to go through to get those rallies even happening and, you know, what was inspiring you, what was driving you to fight that fight? Because it was a bit of a fight to even get that happening, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. Yeah, so before I dive into that, I'd just like to acknowledge country as well, the illobical country and the elders in the crowds there. And I stand on your shoulders, as you know, and my education here is possible because of the fight and the legacy that you've left behind. And ain't no power like black people because black people are the power. It was a very tough fight, yeah, through the courts. People are probably sick of hearing about it. But so what had happened is to hold a protest, we've got to basically fill out a Form 1 application and submit it to the police, which is, and they get to approve, you know, the routes and the ins and outs of the protest on everything that you put on the form. And it's a bit ironic, you know, because we would knock back the first time and when you knock back the first time, you get to come up with reasons as to why the police shouldn't knock you back and why the protest should go ahead. And thankfully, I end up cold calling Felicity Graham who is a hectic barrister in Sydney. I had no idea who she was. I knew that she ran the first Black Lives Matter protest. It was about seven or eight o'clock at night. You know, as a frightened law student where you've got, you know, so many odds against you. You've got a whole army or police that have a team full of solicitors, barristers. And here I was, you know, standing with a butter knife against a team that had army tanks and guns. And so Felicity Graham was, you know, she was really keen to get on board and she said, all right, let's do this. Let's come up with reasons. And so we built, we constructed this COVID safety plan and all the, you know, reasonable steps we're going to take to make sure the protest was safe. But we were knocked back for the second time and the police commissioner of Newcastle said, oh, I'm working you back on health grounds and if you choose to go ahead, I'm going to hit you with a cost order. And for the mob that don't know what a cost order is, it's if you lose the court case, you will have to pay for the police barrister. They're instructing solicitor and you'll have to pay for court fees. Now, as a final year law student, I didn't have that kind of money laying around. But when you have all these odds against you, you don't care about the risk. You're not thinking about logic. You're not thinking about the consequences. So I just dug deep and I said, right, oh, let's do this. I'm not really care about what's at risk here because my people's lives, my community are far greater than Yeah, it's yeah, that's how much it means, I think, but I think one thing that we need to keep in mind is that we have to keep this emotion of anger because that is what drove me you know, I hate to segue into my own little podcast work but and I talk about this the power of anger where you know Malcolm X visited Africa and there were two states one had more freedom than the other and the one with less freedom they were walking around hopeless and sad and when Malcolm X visited the state that had more more you know freedom they were angry and when you're angry you get up and you want to do something and so that's what I did because I wasn't thinking thinking about consequences I wouldn't I wasn't thinking thinking about logic I just thought let's go ahead with this Supreme Court and we did and the police were subject to a cost order so they had to pay my barrister and the court fees. Look I know you did you're such a powerful boistering those rallies Tay and you know I know that you came through your park and you were a student here and you've come from Davo and I wonder can you talk about you know how is your education here at the uni all the two can and as a law student how has that helped you in fighting those fights in being able to you know take on the police commissioner in a case like that. It's helped so much I don't even think that yeah I could fully you know I don't think there's a English word in the dictionary that could articulate it but if I were to try and articulate it I would say it like this when you learn the language of the oppressor and you're able to articulate how their actions continue to oppress me and my people then I've seized to become the victim I'm no longer the victim and you know being a being a young black woman in Australia black women are the most disrespected people in Australia they are you know they are the most they are women who are constantly beat and subject to all the all types of brutality that you could think of we are the most disrespected we're the most underrepresented and I think that's when the police also you know they took me a little less seriously because of that I'm young and I'm black and I'm a woman but my education has helped so much because I was able to articulate everything in the oppressor oppressors language and you know and we've been and all of a sudden I've been put on this pedestal you know all because I've won a Supreme Court case which I don't believe I should be and I say that because you know I may have won a victory but it's a victory that you can talk about but it's not a victory that you can show me because nothing has come from this and as far as I'm concerned it doesn't matter how much respect the court or white people or you know education system show me if that respect isn't rippled on to my people you know who are at the hands of police who haven't received an education if that's like same respect as it showed to them then as far as I'm concerned it doesn't apply to me thank you Taylor and I know how passionate you are about about this and I can hear I can hear when you're talking about it and you know we're talking about how your education here has really helped you in that in that work and if I can go back to you Jeff and I know that you didn't have the straightest pathway you know through through school and I guess now coming out the other side and and doing the work that you do you know what role do you think education has in in this movement education is everything and today I'm I'm so aware of the key to success is in education you know after I suppose of my a lot of my long years of misery and pain in them dark places I end up going back to tafe at the age of 38 and I couldn't I couldn't be where I am today without without having that that bit of paper I had knowledge about the lived experience I had knowledge about you know this and that but no one sort of wanted to take mine until I had that that that piece of paper so to go back at the age of 38 and to try to spark the brain again it was the most toughest thing I had to do to get my search for in community service but after that I completed that and I went and I've done my diploma in community service as well and I know the key to success is in education and that's where it lacked for me it's in my primary school years you know you wouldn't think but I taught knife everything he knows you know but but going back because stuff was happening at home I took that stuff to school with me today it's a bit different you know we've got the support at school now if there's kids fallen behind or but because I took a lot of stuff that traumatizes a kid at home I took that to school I was always tarnished with the the brush of an indigenous kid that just doesn't want to listen and doesn't want to learn so I was forever at the at the principal's office every day on a day-to-day basis it was like Jeff you don't want to listen I was always at the back of the classroom but what was happening all traumatized as a kid you see a lot of domestic violence you see a lot of drug and alcohol abuse you see a lot of this stuff happening at home you start to believe that that lifestyle is normal but because I've seen a lot of domestic violence I believe I came traumatized as a kid and I took that school took that stuff to school where I couldn't concentrate and I'm our people are still in that rut today you know there's the witness and stuff at school so our kids are going to school and this is why we're fallen behind so I think they've got to start picking up on more support around that on how we could support on what's going on at home. Thanks Jeff if I can jump over to you Professor Morgan you've been advocate of social and restorative justice through education for Aboriginal people for over 40 years a long time and so I wonder what role you think education has here when we're talking about Black Lives Matter. Well thank you and I also would like to acknowledge the traditional lands upon which were gathered and its peoples I'd also like to dedicate my words today to in acknowledgement of the warriors Aboriginal indigenous non-indigenous who've actually fought the battle over a lifetime to make the type of world that we're still struggling to create. I think it's important not just about looking forward but also our important is to look back and to understand and appreciate where we've come from because the types of freedoms that we have today the rights and freedoms that we enjoy they just didn't happen. Many of those rights and freedoms were hard fought and lots of people sacrificed their lives if we're talking about Black Lives Matter to creating the opportunities that today many of our people enjoy. I'm not arguing that people don't have a right to the top of things but I would argue that we need to think of those more in terms of a privilege a privilege that's been created by others and we should never forget the history of our country and the journey that we've all been on in this country where our sovereignty has never been ceded where the issues of social and restorative justice continues to be a constant in the lives that we live. Now I guess at one level I see education as critical to truth-telling in the creation of a more just and equitable world. The incidents that in my opinion drive the Black Lives Matter movement in Australia and across the world are emblematic of a world suffering a form of moral decay. In the education process it is not only important to learn but also to unlearn age-old assumptions and truths that are mired in racism, privilege and oppression. Equally important in my opinion is a need for an education of the heart and the soul because as it's this form of education perhaps more than in the gulfs that liberates silence to challenge atrocities and abuses that unfortunately unfortunately continue to occur at an ever-increasing regularity. The spiritual enlightenment is critical to addressing and finding remedy to what I refer to as spiritual fatigue. Spiritual fatigue is a consequence of a people who are oppressed, alienated and marginalized and what I refer to as constantly having to contend with the 40-20 divide and when I talk about the 40, sorry 80-20 divide I want to explain that this depicts the reality of a live aboriginal reality that we spend 80% of our time struggling for our rights and freedoms. We spend the rest of our time the other 20% defending, explaining, never celebrating what it means to be aboriginal. In this our unceded land, so I guess in all that there is a question of the need for Australia if it's ever, if it's ever going to realise the potential that it truly is, is that it must deal with the unceded sovereignty of aboriginal trust around the people in this country. This isn't just about land rights, this isn't just about Black Lives Matter, this is a question of profound, profound question of sovereignty and it's only when we understand what sovereignty truly means and how we've never ceded it will we start to see things happen around Black Lives Matter, around social and restorative justice in addressing the inequalities that persist to this day. I'm a father, I'm a grandfather, I'm a great-grandfather. I hate to believe that when comes time for me to go to the other world that my great-grandfathers are still going to be faced with that 80-20 battle, that there's no celebration in that situation. So I guess education is critical, absolutely critical, but it just can't be about the education of the mind. It's got even more than that. How do we become a truly socially responsible and caring society? And economics, neoliberalism, the intoxication of greed can also be a big part in that thing that I refer to as spiritual fatigue. So yes, let's educate our people, let's educate non-habitual people too or uneducate them about their sense of privilege and perhaps the world will be a better place. I'm a prisoner of hope, I believe in the capacity of all of us, our common humanity, to overcome so many differences in our society. It requires political leadership, it requires societal leadership, it requires leadership from institutions like theirs. And so I believe that there is a hope for the future that we will one day be able to look at each other in the eye, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, and truly understand what it truly means to be Australian and what it truly means to be human. Thank you, Professor Morgan, and you just talked then about that relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, and Sharon, I'm going to quote you from your ministerial statement on closing the gap, and you said then what we're doing is failed First Nations people, and instead of talking about a reset on closing the gap, it's time for a reset on the original relationship between First Nations people and the remainder of the Australian nationhood. So if I can ask you, how do we engage with non- Indigenous people in our communities in building those relationships? Thank you, and I will come to the question, but I'd also just like to say how incredibly humble I feel to be part of this panel, to be sitting in this room with so many of those warriors that have really forged the pathways for many generations, and a massive shout out to the dancers from Adamstown Public School. That was so terrific. Look, I have sadly made those statements in Parliament for the last seven years, really around our, you know, each year the Parliament reports on how we're going on the close the gap targets, and it's always a pretty dismal picture, I have to say, and I think by year seven I was really kind of starting to be more than a little frustrated about a lack of any lasting change, and it's become increasingly apparent to me that there is a really profound problem with the way in which a nation founded through a colonial process. There is a lot of Finnish business that has never been attended to, and it remains a, this is not a problem just for First Nations people, it is a problem for the nation as a whole, and I, you know, I've given it a lot of thought about there is, you know, listening to your 80-20 analogy just then, you know, I've long thought that it is, you know, what role do non-indigenous people play in this, because it is, there are already mass, you know, the exhaustion rate for many First Nations people is already profound, and is it really the responsibility to be educating the remaining, you know, 25 million Australians? So I've always had a view that there are many ways in which, you know, we have to accept responsibility for our own learnings, for the communities that we live in and truly getting to know those communities, and I, you know, had a pretty amazing period of my life where I lived and worked with Hortenburg people up in Fitzroy Crossing, and it really, you know, in many ways, I mean, it just made a profoundly change my life, and I knew when I came back to Newcastle that I had a lot of work to do in my own community, and so I got involved then with a Newcastle Aboriginal support group when I first came back and got to see this building grow, and in fact that group moved across into this building when that was opened up, and sadly a lot of my elders from that group have passed, and it, but it was a good introduction, I think, you know, you have to figure out entry points into communities that live in, you know, the cities or towns that you reside in, and I think for me that was a good starting point. There's not a day where I don't continue to learn and acknowledge I still have so much to learn, but it is an important part of, you know, and the job that I have now in Australian Parliament gives me a lot of platforms on which to ensure that I use my role to be able to try and have conversations with lots and lots of different people, and, you know, I get to practice my powers of persuasion a lot. So the fact that the current ways in which we seek to address those inequalities isn't working is really problematic. I think there is, as, you know, to go back to your original question, the profound problem is the lack of a respectful partnership to begin with. So what does, you know, what does a just society look like? What does a genuine partnership with First Nations people in Australia look like? I think there are lots of those conversations starting to happen now. And there is a responsibility for all of us to make sure that we take full advantage of every opportunity to kind of learn as much as we can. I mean, you know, there is a plethora of pretty amazing First Nations writers, poets, playwrights, dancers, people who are willing, who are telling you if you listen, if you've got capacity to listen, who are telling you pretty amazing stories every day in this change. So I just think we've still got a very big question around the relationship between First Nations and the nation state. And Sharon, you touched a little bit then on, I guess, the inaction of government and, you know, the fact that you're having these, you're making these statements often and for many years in, in parliament. And, you know, we've had the new national agreement on closing the gap coming out this year, and with an aim to reduce incarceration rates for Aboriginal people. But no additional funding was allocated in this year's budget to cater for those justice outcomes. And what are your thoughts about that? Oh, look, I can see you've got time constraints. I'm going to give you the short answer. And it's, it's outrageous. I don't, you know, I don't think we should sugarcoat that. It is, it shows a complete lack of genuine desire to see change. And if you, you know, there's nothing shorter than setting up something to fail by failing to resource it and failing to, you know, really provide the commitment necessary. I think that, you know, it was not the only disappointment out of that budget. But I think that if, you know, given the year that was given the focus on Black Lives Matters, given the ongoing efforts people have made to kind of reset those targets, to add new targets, to have a different story there, you know, if now was not the time to properly resource and show a genuine commitment, I don't know when is. Thank you, Sharon. I'm aware that we do have quite a few schools who are watching today and lots of our young students who are listening to this conversation. And so Taylor, as a, as a student yourself here at the university, is there anything, is there any message that you think, you know, those young people need to hear? Yeah, they're watching. My biggest advice is just back yourself. You might be young, but you have over 80,000 years of knowledge, wisdom, and legacy that is welded into your bones. Always back yourself, never compromise your principles or your values. Seek advice from your elders, you know, be guided by their advice. But at the end of the day, if you make a decision, back your decision and support yourself. Back yourself. Thanks, Taylor. And look, I'm going to ask all the panelists this, you know, we're, we're seeking to, you know, talk to people about what actions they can take to, you know, lead towards these better outcomes to be an ally for Aboriginal people. So, Jeff, if I can ask you what you think some of the practical actions that people watching and listening today can take to help in sustaining this momentum towards positive change? Yeah. So, me personally, you know, I'm a strong believe that for us to make change, we need to write people in the right positions and make change. You know, if you're not in that position to make change, we're never going to make change. So, you've got to be, if you're in that position to support our Indigenous kids or our Indigenous people, especially, especially our young ones now at school, you've got to be, you've got to be aware of the stuff that's happening if they can see behaviours in the kids in the classrooms and just try to support them, kids are the best way they can, you know, but like I say, until we got right people in the right positions, we're never going to make change. So, you've got to be passionate about your change before we can, your position until we can make change. So, yeah, just dig a little bit deeper and you can see stuff going on and see what's happening. Don't just tarnish that kid that he's just an uncontrollable kid because of the reason why we act out like that, because nine times out of ten, there's stuff happening. So, you know, dig a bit deeper instead of tarnishing this with that same brush. Professor Morgan, if I can ask you the same question, what advice would you give to people listening today? Well, it's a very complex question, but I think there are some really simple answers. And one of them is that I've always been intrigued in this journey that in Australia we see more and more people discovering their Aboriginal heritage. And I celebrate that. I want people to understand and be connected to their heritage. What I worry about is that people allow their identity then to be shaped just by their heritage, not by a sense of culture or a sense of connectedness to country. And country is so pivotal to our identity. If you, people quite will tell you who their people are. But some of those people have never been on country. They've never been there to understand and let the country talk to them about their identity. So my really strong message, those young people we saw dancing, and I love the spirit in that. And I love the energy. And I just want for those young people to all save the opportunity to go into country, to take your shoes off, to learn what country truly means. It's not just about geography. Country in our context is far more profound than that. So the young people watching, listening, take your shoes off, find out where country really is, and get your parents and your grandparents and others to give you that top of exposure. And once you feel country, you will know what truly means to be indigenous. And truly meant to be Aboriginal. Or truly what it means to be Cameroi, the center of my universe. Not like the black ale of those other countries that we've heard about. So, but seriously, you know, I can't emphasize enough in this journey that we call life, explore beyond your own reality. To understand that, as Taylor has said, we come from the oldest continuing culture on this planet. So we just, is that just a throwaway line? Or does it truly mean something? And my advice to young people is to seek out the true meaning of that. It's not just about the journey of the 80,000 years. It's all the things that are connected to it. And when we understand that, we'll see enormous change occurring in this country. I'm just going to stay with you, Professor Morgan, and I'm aware that we're nearly out of time for our discussion, but I watched an interview with you the other day and you were talking about Aboriginal people taking control of the educational destiny and the power that, you know, the momentum that was happening in the 70s and 80s. And I wonder what you think, looking at the university today, sitting here in Wallatukah, you know, put over a thousand students here, the Aboriginal students here at the university. Where do you think we are on that journey? It's a good question. I think that we've won the battle of access. I think that we've opened up the doors that have been previously denied in terms of the access to another knowledge. We bring our own knowledge with us, but what the academy needs to consider is how do we construct a new academy for the 21st century where the wisdom that's embedded in Indigenous culture and philosophy can permeate the top of all the courses that we're teaching in the university so that the attributes that students are graduating from these types of institutions are informed by that truth, that essential truth. I've travelled and I've worked and have been involved with many other Indigenous people to another part of the world. The thing that strikes me about my journey to other parts of the world is that other Indigenous people across the planet, their fundamental rights and freedoms have been enshrined in treaties. They've been recognised. They're right to education, they're right to health, they're right to deal with the issues of incarceration, all the other things that we suckle with. We don't have that in Australia. We desperately need a treaty or some type of instrument that gives effect to and is an enabling instrument that gives effect to like for instance the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People. Great statement, but there is no enabling legislation of Australia to give it effect so it rests at the position of aspiration. So it's a great aspirational document but we need to be brave to move beyond just mere aspiration. We deserve that. We deserve that as a country. We, those young people deserve it. All of us in this room and all those that are yet to be born deserve that. So if we don't understand that education isn't just about the development of the intellect, it's the totality of who we are as people, as human beings. How do we better connect with each other and how do we share this wonderful gift called life? How do we do that? And I think we still struggle. Some politicians, friends of one of them, they've lost the plot. They believe that their right is to govern and their right is to serve. So the greatest privilege of being an elected representative is to serve, not to govern and until we shift the dynamics around the politics and all the other things that we see in our country, we'll always be sitting in these types of circles lamenting the lack of progress that's being made. And I don't want to be ever in a position where we continue to sit and lament and lament the lack of progress. I want us to shift to a paradigm of celebration where we can celebrate truly what it means to be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, but also to celebrate what it means to be human, what it means to be Australian. I want all of us to celebrate that, not just during NAIDOC week, but all time. Look I don't think that there's a better point to finish this discussion on than that, just the power and the hope for the future that we are all, you know, we're all here together, we're all in it together. So I thank you very much Professor Morgan. Thank you Sharon, thank you Jeff, thank you Taylor and I think we're going to now hear from Nathan Towney who's going to give us a bit of a presentation up here so I'll hand over to back to Nathan. Thank you. Thanks Lauren. If we could just give our panel members and Lauren a big round of applause. It was my decision to go last and I'm sort of regretting that decision now that I've got to follow that amazing discussion because I could have sat there and listened all day. What I plan to do now is just have a conversation and we've heard about some really interesting points that the panel have discussed and what I'm going to talk about now is what's the role of a university and you know I've got up on the screen some slides that I'm going to talk through which we'll talk through our Indigenous commitment. The university has launched a new strategic plan called Looking Ahead and these lecture series are based around that and I think Jeff spoke a little bit about the fact that we need the right leaders in the right positions and I'm just really proud to work at an organisation that have prioritised an Indigenous commitment as part of that strategic plan and it is front and centre. It's not just something that's put on a piece of paper I feel that people get it and people want to learn how they can contribute to it and that's not just the amazing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff we have here at the university but it's all staff and I'm really proud to work as part of an organisation that does that and you can see where that sits in terms of the priorities our Indigenous commitment wraps around all of it and underpins our values as an organisation and that's something that I'm really proud of. Uncle Bob talked a little bit about knowledge and what is knowledge and for me the university is all about knowledge it's the sharing of knowledge through our courses but it's also the creation of knowledge the creation of knowledge through our research and the things that we discover that then impact and influence communities and this diagram to me really does unpack a few things because from a young age we're told what cogs go into our head that becomes knowledge and our past policies our past lived experience all shape what those cogs look like and unfortunately Aboriginal knowledge and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge hasn't really been valued as a cog whether that's in the school curriculum whether it's been in programs of study at a university it's it's through like lived experience and it's through when people go and take the time to learn and research those things themselves that it becomes part of that cog and one of the things that we're doing as a university is starting to make sure that Indigenous knowledge is part of our our curriculum and part of our learning and again that's something I'm really proud of and I'm going to talk a little bit about how we plan on doing that so from the looking ahead strategic plan the university asked myself and the other leaders here at the university I'd like to acknowledge Kath Butler the head of Wollatuka Dr Ray Kelly deputy head of Wollatuka Professor John Maynard the director of Purae Leah Armstrong director of Indigenous Engagement and Reconciliation we've been working together a lot to think about what does a whole of university strategy look like what does it mean to actually implement an Indigenous strategy across an educational institution because there's so many different things that we need to do and how do we provide that into a framework that leads to action that isn't just an aspirational plan that is something that we can live and breathe and that everybody across the organization sees how they can play a role in delivering this and that's what we want this document to be and there are four key pillars that we've identified around that and I'm going to go through each of those pillars now the first one is around cultural knowledge and understanding how do we ensure that we build capacity cultural knowledge capacity of not only our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and staff but all students and staff to ensure that the doctors the lawyers the teachers everybody that graduates from this university has a little bit of fire in their belly I don't know if we'll get as much fire as you take all right but but we'll take half of that fire I reckon little bit of fire in their belly so that when they go out into their workplace when they graduate from this university it becomes a priority for them to be an advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to proactively implement strategies in their workplaces in their communities and in their homes to change the narrative and to celebrate and that's what we want to do we've released a cultural capability framework which we come the vehicle of how we're going to look at implementing that and building that cultural knowledge and understanding of our staff and it's a document we can be really proud of like to acknowledge the work of Jake McDonald and Leah Armstrong in the development of that document basically it's a it's a document that talks about a lot of organizations talk about cultural awareness for us that's the first step yep you've got to be culturally aware and we've developed a continuum in this framework and the end phase is cultural responsiveness and Uncle Bob you talked about being responsive and being responsible and that's what we want we want people to be proactive we want people to be responsive to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that framework with the way that we're going to deliver that we've developed three online modules which are developed by our community for our community a lot of people in the room here feature on in those modules that's followed up with a three hour face-to-face workshop with our team and by our team I mean a broader team of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff across the university and then that's followed by an on-country experience so we actually want our staff to go and connect with local community members don't know if they'll get their shoes off they might get their shoes off and connect with where they are what is significant about this place where they where they work what role do they have in connecting to country and how can that influence the work that they do because it's when we touch people here that we really get a sense for people to want to change and to think about how they do things and often in universities and educational settings we're thinking about here and so we want to touch both we want to touch here so that that influences what happens here and the cultural capability framework is what we're doing to going to use to do that that's the staff-facing piece we also have a student-facing piece and I'd like to acknowledge Professor Mark Hoffman where we're looking at an Indigenous graduate attribute and an enhanced Indigenous graduate attribute so that we can really proudly say that every student that graduates from this university will have access to cultural knowledge and understanding regardless of what program of study they're in and so that's something that we're really excited about as well our second pillar is participation and retention we want Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be here and when they're here we want them to feel safe we want them to feel valued and we want them to feel valued in the in what they bring to this university because when I talk about knowledge there are two types of knowledge and it's and it's that ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people understand that the knowledge that they bring to this university is just as important I want to acknowledge the team of Walla Tuca in particular the outreach team for the work that they do it's no no accident that we have the largest number of undergraduate students in the country Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the country and that's for the amazing work that happens in that outreach team I'd like to acknowledge the the work of Thiru the Indigenous Health Unit and the work that they do in supporting students and as well as the Walla Tuca team here that provide that support one students are here this is a home away from home I still remember and I'd like to acknowledge John Lester still remember having my interview over at the old Walla Tuca room next to Bar on the Hill to get into university and I'm going to be sitting on those panels next month with Christy Fulkner and the team to have a new intake of students and this place changed my life and it was that opportunity that allowed me to do that so how do we ensure that we provide those opportunities and get the message to as many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as we can to let them know that this place can change your life and that education is so important in whatever field they choose to go not only students we want more staff we want Aboriginal and Torres Islander people to be here as staff members as well and again feel safe and feel valued our alumni are really important we need to make sure that we engage with our alumni and that our alumni still feel connected to this place and so that's a really big part of that pillar as well the third pillar is around research research to influence change we don't want to research for the sake of researching to to publish a paper to get citations we want to impact in communities that's what we need we've talked that we've heard a lot about some of the big issues surrounding our communities and it's it's going to be the work that's led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers that will help solve those issues not only those issues but some of the biggest issues facing our globe First Nations people from all over the world have amazing knowledge that can help solve those and so how do we tap into that how do we how do we apply new knowledge by combining that knowledge with the western knowledge to to come up with solutions and connect people together so that we can create that new knowledge and that's what that research agenda is all about we've picked out some big research priorities that we want to touch on um health is a big one of those we're working with a wobbacle um Aboriginal medical service we're working with Hunter New England Health Hunter Medical Research Institute and also their equivalents on the Central Coast um to ensure that we have a coordinated approach to indigenous health research for this region it's really important and we want that to be indigenous led we want people in those in our communities to become researchers and understand the role that they can play language Dr Ray Kelly doing amazing work in that space making sure that all of these research areas are actually interlinked cross-discipline research is so important and we need to provide a space that allows that to happen and that's a big part of our plans moving forward Professor John Maynard Professor Vicki Haskins in the in the global history space working at Puraway they do an amazing job again we can't do any of this unless unless the truth is told we've heard about that today and history plays such a big part in that and also ecological knowledge traditional land management is so important in today's world and like I've said our First Nations people from across the globe have many answers we've just got to listen so let's find those answers last but not least the last pillar is around engagement and community collaboration for reconciliation like to acknowledge the work of Leah Armstrong Mandy Hawkins and Lauren Collier for the work around our reconciliation action plan we don't see our role as just develop developing a rap for the university we also see our role as as being a bit of a a regional resource around reconciliation action plans we have a number of industry partners that have raps and they come to us with employment targets with procurement targets and so what role can we play to help service that region we have a large number of undergraduate students perfect for employment fantastic opportunities for our students we have amazing business school we have an amazing law school that can help build capacity of our local indigenous owned businesses so we can become more of a resource than just developing our own rap we can actually help empower our communities through the reconciliation process which is what it's meant to be and we want to make sure that the companies and industry that are developing those raps are actually implementing them and that they're really practical and they're empowering our communities that's what they're meant to do and I think we can play a role in that at the end of the day it's about people I've got some people up the top there that I really want to highlight and Professor Kelvin Kong who's a con joint with the University of Newcastle just received an amazing grant over a million dollars to look at e-health as we know is a big problem in our communities so an amazing opportunity for Kelvin Gayle Garvey on the left this year was awarded the alumni medal for the whole of university that's not an indigenous award that's a whole of university award and Professor Gayle Garvey is a leading researcher in indigenous cancer research he's an alumni of our university so she's gone out there she's graduated from here and she's doing amazing work in supporting that work in the in our communities that's the role that education can play. The person in the red up there you might have noticed her on your tv screen Shani Wellington who works for NITV and was a co-host for the first all indigenous breakfast morning show on NITV during NAIDOC week and there were four people that sort of were running that breakfast morning show three of those were alumni from our university Shani was the indigenous alumni of the year for 2020 and an amazing achievement and he's out there as a role model for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and especially young girls person down on the bottom right is Professor Linda Rhine who has developed an amazing resource people may have heard of the massacre map and I just wanted to highlight that it's not just this the work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Professor Rhine is an advocate she's passionate about truth telling and if anyone hasn't seen the massacre map I encourage you to google it it is absolutely amazing I didn't realize until I was preparing for this talk that there were some massacres not too far from where I grew up a place called Mudgey I always knew there weren't many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people when I played footy against Mudgey and it really started to hit home then that maybe this is why because people don't want to go back there and not only did I click on the link on the little dot that that represented that massacre but it actually showed me on google maps and google earth the site where that massacre occurred and the details of what happened very confronting quite disturbing in some instances but so important and I encourage everyone to google that and have a look and then I've got some pictures there of our students they're not they're from our strategic plan and those students and it's important for all of our students to have access to that cultural knowledge and understanding because we want more people like Lindell that will regardless of what area they go into become advocates and really do empower Aboriginal communities in where they work last but not least I would just like to thank again our panel members I'd like to thank all of the audience that are here today as we close we're going to hear some amazing music from Ray Budkelly thank you very much mate really appreciate you taking the time to to have some entertainment as we as we zone out we're also going to have on the screen some images that are going to come up and there's going to be a lasting message and I guess what this is is a call to action Uncle Bob we had lunch before this and Uncle Bob sort of said what do you want to get out of this what's you know what what what are you hoping and we want people to reflect we want people to think about after everything that's been discussed today what role can you play whether you're a student at a school whether you're in a workplace what is it that you can do now either in your workplace or at in your community or at your home that can contribute to a positive narrative moving forward so I'll leave that with you and I thank you very much thank you to the marketing and comms team for all of the work in preparing this this event very proud to have been part of it thank you one one two two good afternoon everyone yes my name is Ray Kelly and it's a pleasure to be here today I'd like to thank Lauren and all the organizers for putting together such a wonderful event I'm going to give you the quick little demonstration on the Yadaki but before I do I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge some of our elders here today so Professor Uncle Bob Morgan Uncle Ronnie Gordon and only Laura Williams good to see you again and I'd just like to say how good it is to see a lot of our students and staff hanging around and participating in today's session so once again thanks for having me always a pleasure listening to you play I'd just like to thank firstly all of our panelists for sharing your wisdom and your time with us today we truly appreciate it thank you to everyone that's come to join us here in Wallatukah it's lovely to see everyone here joining us for these important conversations and thank you to everyone that has joined us online I hope that you have learned something today and taken something away with you to join the cause and find your role in this momentum of change so thank you all thank you